More in Music & Videos

With revenues from streaming music services skyrocketing while digital music sales are falling, it was only a matter of time before Apple's iTunes was outpaced by more modern ways of consuming music. And so it goes: According to Kobalt, a music publishing service that represents over 6,000 artists, European earnings from Spotify have overtaken those from iTunes....More

For those who move between different digital media ecosystems, Roku just became even more of a no-brainer. In addition to supporting Amazon's services, heavy-hitters like Netflix and Hulu Plus, and Miracast, Roku's latest living room set-top boxes now support Google Play Movies & TV as well....More

Following in the footsteps of Google Chromecast and the Roku Streaming Stick, Amazon today announced its latest entry in the living room digital media sweepstakes, the Fire TV Stick. Essentially a less expensive version of the Amazon Fire TV, the Fire TV Stick also provides a much smaller form factor. And unlike Chromecast, it comes with a dedicated remote control....More

Microsoft quietly revealed via an Xbox support page that it will soon eliminate one of the key perks of Xbox Music: The ability to freely stream (ad-supported) music from the Windows and web versions of the Xbox Music client. This change will make Xbox Music less of a no brainer for Windows users, and while I agree that an Xbox Music Pass subscription solves the problem nicely, not everyone wants to pay....More

Every time I start to think that Microsoft has forgotten Xbox Music, it does something like this: The firm announced a new mobile app today for Windows PCs, tablets and phones that alerts you to incredibly low-priced albums, including some that are as low as $1 or $2. If you find one you like, you can buy it—wait for it—from Xbox Music....More

There is an understanding with digital subscription services, whether they're for books, music, TV shows and movies, or whatever, that you'll be sharing that subscription with your family. And these services can either embrace that reality, as so many are doing, or they can pretend it's not happening and put up some artificial roadblocks. Today, Spotify, the world's leading music subscription, announced a family-oriented versions of the service. And it's an idea that Microsoft should quickly appropriate and improve on for Xbox Music....More

Roku has announced a software update for its media streaming devices that will allow users to mirror their Android, Windows and Windows Phone screens to the HDTV that's connected to the Roku. This solution, currently in beta, appears to be based on Miracast and could be a good wireless display solution for those who already have a recent Roku....More

Microsoft's new Miracast-based Wireless Display Adapter is available now for preorder and should be shipping in very late October. Here's a first hands-on peek at the adapter, which is aimed at PC and tablet users that wish to project their screen to an HDTV at home or a projector at work....More

A few weeks back, I started an examination of Microsoft's consumer services, which I believe to be overlooked or misunderstood by many users. Microsoft no longer pushes a Windows-first/Windows-only strategy, and with "mobile first, cloud first" it is instead trying to ensure that its services provide a first class experience on all mobile platforms. And Xbox Music is a key example of a Microsoft consumer service that outclasses the competition, is available everywhere, and is yet ignored by, or unknown to, many....More

Microsoft issued updates for both Xbox Music and Xbox Video for Windows 8.1 today. Neither are updated as much as their Windows Phone counterparts—mostly because they're already of higher quality—and these updates are, as expected, fairly minor....More

While I've been a lot more focused on Xbox Music for what I assume are obvious reasons, Microsoft has also been updating its Xbox Video apps a lot lately as well. And this week, the firm issued updates for the Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 versions of the app. Nothing major, but some steady progress....More

Microsoft went with its own branding for the curiously named Screen Sharing For Lumia Phones HD-10, but the device looks and works like your typical Miracast dongle: It lets you beam content from a smartphone to an HDMI-connected HDTV so you can watch movies, photo slide shows, and other content on the big screen....More

Xbox One fans upset that Microsoft's new console debuted without any way to play media files from a USB drive or over their home networks will want to install the latest system update. This update includes a beta version of a new Media Player app, currently in beta, that promises to solve this problem. And it does so, sort of....More

Microsoft updated its Xbox Video apps for Windows Phone 8/8.1 and Windows 8.1 last night. The Windows Phone version gets a variety of small bug fixes, but on Windows, we see slightly more substantive changes related to TV show episodes, video downloading and more....More

Overnight, Microsoft issued updates to the Xbox Music and Xbox SmartGlass apps for Windows Phone. Xbox Music picks up a Zune-style live tile, while Xbox SmartGlass—also updated for Windows 8.x/RT—has been updated with a ton of features related to the recent Xbox One update....More

Windows Phone users have a love/hate relationship with Spotify, the wildly popular music streaming service. On the one hand, we're just happy to have an official Spotify app on the platform, since it provides another high-quality choice alongside rivals such as Beats, Pandora and Xbox Music. But on the other hand, Spotify has been slow to issue updates to the app. So while this week's major update, which adds support for the free version of Spotify, is quite welcome, it also comes well after the 2013 launch of this feature on Android and iOS....More

I didn't get as much work done on the books as I had hoped while I was away in Barcelona. But I did issue several book updates while I was away, and should be able to crank up the speed now that I'm heading home....More

Microsoft's Xbox Video app for Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 was updated this morning with performance improvements, better error messaging, and improved search results. This app isn't yet as critical, or terrible, as Xbox Music. But with a coming generation of Windows Phone-based mini-tablets it could prove to be more crucial to Microsoft's strategy of evolving the platform....More

Microsoft on Friday issued another major update to Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1, adding a number of new features. But the biggest change in this release, I think, is the performance: Views like Songs, Artists, and Albums now display almost immediately, instead of slowly filling after displaying a blank screen. Yes, Xbox Music is suddenly usable again....More

One of the things that makes a home swap different from a vacation is that we're not just visiting the place, we're actually living there. We shop locally, eat at our temporary home each day, and aside from some sightseeing pretty much live life normally. And when you're gone for over three weeks—and are doing so with kids, especially—a big part of the day-to-day is accessing TV shows, movies, and other entertainment at night and in the off hours. And as you may know from your own travels, this type of thing is often painfully difficult when you're in a different country....More

If you use Xbox Video for some reason—and, seriously, I don't recommend it aside from rented movies—you'll be happy to see today's major UI update: The app now looks and works like the Xbox Music app instead of the old-fashioned panorama it previously sported. Now if we could just get the Xbox Games app updated....More

Lost amid the huge list in my most recent What I Use article is a product I'm surprised no one commented on: Google's Chromecast. Like Chromebook, Chromecast was something that launched in a fairly half-assed state. But it's improved over time, and while I still think more expensive competing solutions like Roku 3 are better living room solutions overall, Chromecast earns a spot on the list for one very important reason: It's the only inexpensive living room device that works with Google's ever-improving Play services....More

Another curious Microsoft executive misstatement this week raised questions about the future of Microsoft's Xbox Music and Xbox Video services. But Joe Belfiore responded to the rumors on Twitter with some good news: The firm has no plans to drop Xbox Music or Xbox Video....More

Microsoft just updated the Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps for Windows Phone 8.1, which shouldn't come as much surprise since both have been updated repeatedly since the OS RTM'd back in April. These latest updates pretty much fall into the "bug fixes and improvements" category, but Microsoft has also provided a more detailed peek at what's new....More

Microsoft Mobile (formerly Nokia) announced a new app called Video Tuner for Windows Phone 8.1 today that should be interesting for budding videographers: It lets you edit videos right on your handset, instead of downloading to your PC and editing from there, and do so with a powerful array of tools....More